What If She's An Angel?

The RAs are indeed coming to you, LIVE, if definitely not in real time, from the beautiful mountainous Gisinye. Monday night we made it to the concert at the stadium, which featured many MANY Ugandan artists, each of which got to sing only 2 or 3 songs, most of which were lip-synching. We spent a good part of the evening playing "Name That Pop Act." "Ugandan TLC!" "Ugandan Ne-yo!" "Ugandan Usher!" "Ugandan Lady Gaga?" etc. Some of the acts were actually terrific, including a bizarre, definitely live rap group who know our friends at the art co-op and featured, bizarrely enough, a member dressed as a Sheikh. We did NOT get to see Medi, but we're here for many more weeks, and we are sure we'll track him down.

I have a Rwandan reading over my shoulder, with absolutely zero shame. He speaks excellent English and apparently reads it as well. He wanted to know who I was sending this to, and seemed to understand when I said it was a blog.

Tsufit's camera was stolen at the concert, which means 3 out of the original 6 we had amongst us are gone (Stipps' needs some repairs but will be fine). Africa is re-absorbing our cameras at an alarming rate. The lack of cameras, tragically, is the reason there is no photographic evidence of any of the following:

Tuesday we arrived in Gisinye and went to see a volcanic-rock mine owned by one of the women here whom FVA's GBV program helped, Vestine. It was AWESOME. That is some seriously physical labour. They hack away at the rocks with giant hammers. Goats were running around looking for scraps - there are goats everywhere here. We met the Vestine's husband, a pastor, who is missing all of his left arm and half of his right arm, below the elbow, and has some deep scars in his face. We asked one of the other women, Christine, what had happened, thinking he had probably been attacked during the genocide. But no: she said they had been wealthy, and in 2000, a decade ago, his friends tried to rob him, and they were the ones who had done this to him.

Wednesday we got to make dolls, which was extremely awesome. We're crazy about these dolls they make here, with baskets on their heads and babies on their backs, because that's just how the women here walk. We got to actually stitch their faces on: eyes, eyebrows, nose and mouth. That afternoon, we went up the mountain to teach a class for kids, and waited about 45 minutes for our guide to take us what turned out to be only a 3 minute walk. We kept the locals entertained simply by existing. We drew a crowd, and finally a man shouted at them all to go away, we weren't going to do tricks or anything. They yelled back that they'd never seen a muzongo and wanted to keep looking; if we wanted them to go away, they said, we would tell them. Our translator Clemence interjected in horror, "No they would not!" Meanwhile, the local children kept RA1 entertained by teaching her a game in which you sit on the ground and throw rocks at a ledge and try to get them to stay up there and not roll or bounce off, which kept her mercifully occupied for the better part of 30 mins. In a genuine T.I.A. experience, When our guide arrived to take us on our 3 minute walk, we discovered know one had actually told the kidswe would be teaching this class, FOR THEM. We agreed to move the class to Friday (we'll see how that goes) and went back to the bus stop. At this point, the dark clouds that had been threatening all day opened up in a torrential downpour, and we took shelter in a one-room tin roof salon, watching as the (soaking wet) owner tried to keep all the electricity from blowing, by touching electrical wires with his wet hands. Meanwhile, the man behind Clemence was obviously drunk and, we were afraid, about to fall over on her at any moment. The storm was so bad it took down branches and part of the roof of the restaurant at the hostel we're staying at caved in. But Gisinye really needed the rain.

Today we walked up the hill to farm, which we were super excited about. On the way, we saw a pig on a bicycle, which RA2 considered the highlight of the experience. The pig was, as it were, hog-tied, and flung over the back of the bike with its head very close to the ground, which must have been one of the stranger experiences of its soon to be discontinued life. We also gathered an entire PARADE of children yelling "Muzongo!" in teeny-tiny excited voices. This actually happens so often we hardly ever mention it, but this was quite a crowd, they were adorable, and they had props, including tires they were spinning beside us as they ran to keep up.

We had been told we would be picking maize (tough, big corn that is delicious when you grill it) but when we got there they were tilling the soil by hand with big hoes, and they wanted us to sit in the shade and watch, which would have been no fun. So we took off our shoes and grabbed us some hoes. It was awesome, and the rich soil feels amazing when you bury your feet in it. After tilling, the women picked fresh maize and threw it on a small charcoal grill, and we ate it outside. Christine asked us if we knew the story of the angel the lord sent to Abraham. We did not. She said, "The Lord sent an angel to Abraham to see how he would be received, because God only gives us things we can handle*. Abraham and his wife received the angel, and the angel told God it was good, and even though they were old, God sent them a child, because he knew it would be received well**. So, I am telling the other ladies that we never know what God's plans are, and we should always receive everyone well, and you might be angels***! But you will go back to your homes and tell people how you were cared for here." To which RA1 had the good sense to reply, "You are OUR angels." And they are.

We had a really productive meeting (we hope) with the women after, and it raised some of their real concerns and questions. Apparently they were in a good place as an organization, and then several of the people working with them robbed them, and they're having a lot of trouble getting back up and running. During the meeting, Vestine passed around some pictures of herself. They love cameras here because they so rarely get pictures of themselves or their children, and we were sorry we couldn't take any this time. One of the pictures was of Vestine and her husband, before they were robbed, and there he was, holding his daughter in two strong hands, looking worlds different in the eyes than the man we had met. They are a very beautiful couple.

*All RA2 could think of was the line from a Lori McKenna song that goes "Oh but God only gives us as much as we can take... I guess."
**All RA2 could think was, "God used to really micromanage. What is he doing now? Is it because there are too many of us? Did he just give up? I mean, he doesn't have to get into everyone's details all the time, but he could stop by and say Hi..."
*** All RA2 could think of was a line from a country song about a little girl with cancer who needs help: what if she's an angel?/sent here from heaven/and she's making sure that you're doing your best to help one another/brother are you gonna pass that test?